Neimo Q&A

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French quartet serve up a cocky and irreverent interview.

By Spence D.

Debuting in their native France back in the early 00s, Neimo (Bruno Alexandre on vocals, Camille Troillard on guitar, Matthieu Joly on keyboards, and Alexis Hadefi on drums), kicked out their debut album, Scratch, in 2005.

One of the few French musical outfits to actually sing in English, the band is still awaiting for their official release outside of Europe.

In the meantime we managed to track the Gallic group down and hooked up with the quirky French combo long enough tod assaulte them with our Q&A layout.

As can be expected the foursome kicked back some wonderfully snarky responses.

IGN Music: Who is your favorite superhero or super villain and why?

Neimo: The Joker – who cares about good super heroes?

IGN Music: What is your favorite late night snack when you're in the studio or out on tour and why?

Neimo: It depends on where we are. In NYC, it would be a salad (gorgonzola, balsamic vinegar and olive oil) or a slice of bread with smoked ham and Philadelphia cheese. When we're in Lyon, South of France, we love to go to a restaurant near the Rhône river which closes very late. When in Paris, we have Japanese food delivered at the venue.

IGN Music: Which do you prefer, performing music live or creating it in the studio and why?

Neimo: We love and dislike both, actually. We love performing live for it's a good way to give life to your songs and you get the instant feedback from the audience, but you have to carry the instruments and the amps and that's a real pain in the a**. Being in studio is a moment we welcome as the final evolution of our songs, that were born onstage; but after you print those moments, you can't go back, so you'd better be sure you made the right choices.

IGN Music: Do you recall the first concert you ever went to?

Alexis: Primus and Rush in 1994

Camille: Paul Mc Cartney in 1992

Matt: My cousin's band. It was magic, made me want to do so.

IGN Music: Do you remember the first album you ever bought? Was it on CD, vinyl, cassette or 8-track? Why did you buy it?

Camille: Sure! It was Alan Parsons Project's Ammonia Avenue on a cassette. I was 5, and my parents were going to London for a week-end, so I asked them to bring me something very exotic, like a cassette. Actually, they had bought this tape at the store down the street!

Bruno: The Beatles, blue compilation album on vinyl, when I was 7.

IGN Music: What is your favorite album and why? Bruno:Scary Monsters, David Bowie, because the atmosphere is just indescribable and the production still stunning, and the inside joke of "Ashes To Ashes" referring to Space Oddity is amazing.

IGN Music: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

Neimo: Make it free.

IGN Music: What has been your most important professional accomplishment to date?

Neimo: Play the Paris festival Rock En Seine, 'cause we shared the stage with Morrissey and Dirty Pretty Things, and that was cool.

IGN Music: What has been your most memorable or most f@#ked-up gig to date and why?

Neimo: The most memorable gig was on the 21st of June, 2007, at La Flèche d'Or, in Paris, in front of 800 overexcited people, with fifty kids invading the stage, taking instruments and playing with us! Bruno had to climb on the light structures and sing from there not to be pushed off the stage.

IGN Music: Do your dreams/nightmares influence your music?

Neimo: Not really… It's rather everyday life: we stick to the ground, to the experiences we go through or witness.

IGN Music: What do you like to do on your days off?

Neimo: Shop for clothes, shop for beers, hang out at our local pub in Paris with our friends from other bands, play Xbox (Alexis is PES killer), watch movies and go running (just kidding).

IGN Music: What do you do on the tour bus between shows to while away the time?

Neimo: Sleep & Laugh. Booze & Games. Talk about the weather… We just live, in fact.

IGN Music: What do you miss most about home when you're on the road?

Neimo: Wine & Cheese. Oh yeah.

IGN Music: What do you like most about visiting other countries when on tour?

Neimo: It's funny to see how audiences react differently depending on the country... Some songs do good in one country, but don't have the same impact in others... Share the music with new people, from a different culture, is really exciting and is one of the best part of the beautiful job that is ours.

IGN Music: What is your kindred spirit animal (the animal you are most like) and why?

Neimo: The cat. Chinese people say that God (or rather the Master) created it so the man could stroke the tiger. Yep.

IGN Music: What is your favorite book?

Neimo: We can't read.

IGN Music: What is your favorite cocktail and why?

Neimo: Cocktails are for pussies and/or DJs.

IGN Music: Name the last thing that moved you.

Neimo: This homeless guy in Union Square lying on the floor, unconscious, 50 feet away from this beautiful little market with expensive products.

IGN Music: Name the last thing that pissed you off.

Neimo: A sound engineer that obviously didn't like his job and was complaining about everything. If don't like being a sound engineer, do something else, mate, just leave it to the guys and girls who really care about it.

IGN Music: Pet Peeves?

Neimo: Slow walking people in front of you in the streets. Feel like slapping them at the back of their heads.